What to Do if You Think Someone Is Suicidal?

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One of the most frightening experiences a person can have is hearing a friend or loved one say they want to die. While information technology tin be tempting to cope with this data by labeling it equally attending-seeking behavior or clinging to the myth that people who talk virtually suicide don't actually follow through (which is but untrue), it'due south important to take all warning signs of suicide and suicidal ideation seriously.

If the Risk of Suicide Is Imminent

If your friend is at hazard of attempting suicide right now, telephone call your local police department or 911 right away. Imminent danger includes situations where the person is in possession of a weapon, pills, or other means to follow through with suicide.

If possible, don't leave them alone and do your best to remove any items they can use to hurt themselves. If it is safe, you lot may also drive your friend to the emergency room. Doctors will assess their mental and physical health and create a clear plan that will assist go along them safe.

If, on the other hand, you believe the threat is serious, just not imminent, information technology's still important to act, simply you may have the time to evidence back up, listen, and encourage them to seek professional help. Help is bachelor. Hither are some helpful tips from various suicide prevention resources.

Confirming Suicidal Thoughts

Don't exist afraid to ask, "Are you having thoughts of suicide?" Studies evidence that request at-risk friends and family members if they are thinking nearly suicide does not increase suicidal thoughts. You lot are not putting ideas in their head by asking. On the contrary, asking will requite you valuable data about how to continue and assist.

Get the Facts

If the answer is aye, follow up with these 3 questions:

• Have yous idea about how you would exercise it?
• Do you have what yous need to carry out your plan?
• Do you know when you will exercise information technology?

Fortunately, the majority of people will either say that they accept no definite plans or that they don't have the nerve to practise it themselves. Although this is still a serious state of affairs, if their answers indicate that they don't have a plan, they are probably not in imminent danger of hurting themselves. Take their words as a plea for help and proceed with helping them to go the assistance that they need. Urge them to seek professional help equally soon equally possible.

If the answers they requite you lead you to believe they are in immediate danger, don't hesitate to contact the authorities.

Y'all may feel like you will lose their friendship if you take action. Your friend may fifty-fifty tell you that yous are betraying them or making them angry. Merely retrieve that y'all may permanently lose their friendship if you don't. When they're well again, they will thank you.

Showing Support

There are a number of different things you can exercise to be a supportive and empathetic friend. The primal is to avoid existence judgmental or dismissive of what your friend is feeling.

Speak From the Eye

There are no right or wrong things y'all tin can say if you lot are speaking out of dear and business concern. Simply be yourself. Show that you care past talking to them, holding them while they cry, or whatever else is necessary. Research has shown that acknowledging what people are experiencing may help them process their thoughts and may reduce their suicidal thoughts.

Listen

A suicidal person unremarkably is conveying around some burden that they experience they only can't handle anymore. Offer to listen as they share their feelings of despair, anger, and loneliness. Sometimes this is enough to lighten the load just enough for them to carry on.

Validate & Show Openness

Be sympathetic, non-judgmental, patient, at-home, and accepting. The person will pick up on your mental attitude and begin to mirror it for themselves.

Keep Them Talking

Talking will allow them to reduce the emotional brunt they are carrying and requite them fourth dimension to calm down. The longer yous keep them talking, the more you tin accept the edge off their desperation. As their momentum winds down, it's harder for them to act on their feelings.

Avoid Trying to Solve the Problem

Effort non to offer quick solutions or belittle the person'due south feelings. How big they perceive the trouble to exist and how much they are pain over it is what counts. Rational arguments do piffling good to persuade a person when they are in this state of mind. Instead, offering your empathy and compassion for what they are feeling without making any judgments most whether they should feel that manner.

Take Care of Yourself

Dealing with a suicide threat is very stressful. Be certain to intendance for yourself as well and seek help to process and decompress later. Talk to a trusted friend, a therapist, your doc, a religious leader, or anyone who tin can offering support for what you've been through and how y'all feel about it.

Seeking Emergency Help

If the person has already started a suicide endeavour, call for help immediately. If they are still conscious, get what information you tin about any substances they have ingested, how long agone they took them, how much they took, when they concluding ate, and their full general state of health.

If you lot are in a state of affairs, such as an online friendship, where yous know very trivial almost the person, encourage them to call 911 on their own or to telephone call a suicide hotline in their area. This is your all-time option, because a local bureau, such every bit 911 or a hotline, may be able to trace the call and get assistance to them.

If they refuse to phone call, do your best to acquire whatever personal information yous tin about the person. Don't hesitate to ask them for their accost, phone number, and other information to help dispatch an emergency coiffure to their home.

A Word From Verywell

Supporting a friend or loved one experiencing suicidal thoughts can exist scary and taxing. Do your best to provide back up and get assist. If, in spite of your attempts to aid, your loved one withal attempts or completes suicide, don't blame yourself. Remind yourself that you did the best you could with the information you had and seek help for yourself such as grief counseling or joining suicide survivor support groups.

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Verywell Heed uses but high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to back up the facts inside our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-bank check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Mathias CW, Furr RM, Sheftall AH, Hill-Kapturczak Due north, Crum P, Dougherty DM. What's the impairment in asking about suicidal ideation?. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2012;42(3):341-51. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.0095.10

2. Suicide Prevention. National Institute of Mental Wellness.

3. Gould MS, Marrocco FA, Kleinman Chiliad, et al. Evaluating iatrogenic hazard of youth suicide screening programs: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2005;293(13):1635-43. doi:ten.1001/jama.293.xiii.1635

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Source: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-to-do-when-a-friend-is-suicidal-1065472

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